Parent alert: How kids get into meds that poison them

7:43 AM,
Mar. 20, 2013

Drugs left lying around the house can be picked up by curious kids.

Written by

Kim Painter
Special for USA TODAY

Small children who land in the hospital emergency room after swallowing the wrong medication rarely get the stuff from a medicine cabinet or drawer, a new report suggests.

Instead, children take pills or bottles off the floor, out of sofa cushions or from purses, countertops and other easy-to-see spots, says the report, released Wednesday by the non-profit group Safe Kids Worldwide, based in Washington, D.C.

The medications that prompt a scramble to the emergency room usually belong to adults - most often mothers and grandparents, according to records studied by the group.
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